Pulling at the Threads
You know the NYT game Connections, where the goal is to group words that share a common thread? Running, unions, consumption, and class consciousness—would you necessarily group these words together as being connected? Maybe running seems to be the odd one out. But what if we consider these words as being connected, what if we search for the common threads and see where they go. This was my idea when I slid into Abel’s DM’s with a long message after seeing he was a union lawyer, run club co-leader, and self-described running culturist. Thankfully, he also sees running as a political act as well as a way of connecting to the world around us, and was down to meet up and talk. Considering the audience here, you’re probably a runner so let’s start with that thread—which I think y’all understand and connect with on a visceral level.
In 2015 Abel ran his first marathon and as he describes it, “It was the first time I caught a different type of bug for running. I wasn't worried about competition. It was really all about, ‘Can I do it?’ [Then having the realization] ‘I can't believe this is something I'm physically capable of.’ For me it changed my relationship with my body for the better. From that point on I was consistently running. I ran all through law school, which was very casual, and after I graduated I joined a run club in LA called Good Vibes Track Club. That was the first time I had seen club running similar to what's going on now with community organizing around it and having a group of like-minded people that care about things beyond just the running.” Eventually moving to Sacramento, he noticed the run club scene was more running just to run to which he says, “No shade to the running clubs that existed at that time, it's just, if I was going to run and I was going to train for marathons, I wasn't that interested in doing it with people who I thought were just interested in running.” This thread of running being more than just running is a thread I have personally been pulling at since I began running over 12 years ago, and considering our current political climate (you know, fascists and all) I do think all runners have a responsibility to, at the very least, consider the idea of how they can use their practice of running to create a more connected, just, and liberated world. Looking for that deeper connection, Abel came across the Latinos Run Sacramento chapter but at that time the leaders of the chapter decided to branch off and form their own local running club, Corremos Sacramento, and in doing so allowing for better Sacramento representation, support of local businesses, and empowering members of their community. “I started running with them and enjoyed talking to them, I enjoyed what they were about, and I'm specifically talking about Javier and Dalia now, and after maybe several months of having those relationships they asked me to come on and be a captain of the club. I've tried to bring to it the confidence and the ownership of space that I learned myself. [Corremos Sacramento] has made me feel really at home in Sacramento because I think that is what I've craved all along, to have community with people and to have everyone trying to be their best. So at this point we are trying to foster that, trying to make the running club be about community, be about running, and also be a welcoming space.”
This leads to our next thread. Unions. I credit (the little) I know about unions to my friend Erica who has organized unions at two workplaces, was fired from one of them, and won a case against the environmental organization that fired her for unionizing—they have a history of unfair labor practices. Deep, deep bows to her for sharing her knowledge and lighting that flame in me to continue to learn about unions, labor, and the history of the working class. Being a union lawyer, Abel sees unions as a way to build trust within the working class, despite our differences, and how that ties to running culture, “Unions to me represent the biggest opportunity to address the societal woes that the government is either incapable of or unwilling to address because they conflict with corporate interests. And that's how I view the greater project of what I do through unions. Even more so than getting people on the same page with each other, I think most importantly and most immediately for me, is this is the counter force to corporate influence. I think running clubs are another opportunity for that on a cultural level.” Abel went on to give me a mini history lesson on the Luddite Revolution, which is relevant here when we consider AI and the “advancement” of technology in the modern world. Referring to the mill factory owners that the Luddites opposed, “Rather than understanding the labor context of how the machines were being used, they never questioned the ethics of what it meant to displace labor in that way.” The thread I want us to pull on here is considering free labor that the running industry sometimes asks of runners, and typically runners from historically excluded communities, “There's a lot of free labor that running clubs do, and I mean that in we're leaders and people expect things from us. I mean that in, with [this current] running boom, it seems like a lot of brands are very interested in capitalizing on that movement. And I'm very cautious of which brands I interact with. If I'm dealing with someone who I personally know and I know the face of the person that's representing the brand, I have less qualms about it. Like with On sponsoring a lot of events that we did for California International Marathon weekend I was cool with it because Rosie Cruz and Michael Prather are people I have relationships with.”
Unions and relationships—what could that look like? My friend Erica tells me unionizing was the hardest thing she’s ever done, and yet she continues to advocate for all workers to unionize. There are SO many threads here we can pull, but the thread I am most interested in for this conversation is the utility of unions that goes beyond the traditional. Beyond the 40 hour work week, health care, vacation (which is all great, and which we have because workers died for us to realize those rights) but I envision a world where most of our days are not spent working in the traditional sense of how we currently understand work. I envision a world where we all have more leisure time, more time to be doing what we love and enjoy. And wasn’t that the promise of technology? To free up our time so we can spend it with each other instead of at work, yet because of corporate interests technology has created a world where we are expected to do more work and be more alienated from our communities. “I think that there is a parallel between running clubs and union membership that is really important—addressing the loneliness epidemic.” The epidemic of loneliness is real, so real in fact the former Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, released a report on it. “Union membership and running club membership are actually opportunities for gathering and ceremony because people can develop a really profound relationship with running, and when you add community to that it's a really great way to reach people and to have people feel connected to each other and motivated…union membership and running clubs should be spaces where people feel safe, and I think that they're also a place for earnest dialogue. [It is almost needed] that a requirement is you have to be capable of earnest dialogue. You have to be on the same page with someone to say, ‘listen if we disagree on something I will approach it in the most respectful manner. This isn't even an argument. It's a discussion.’ That's a requirement to me period. And I know enough people who can engage with that.”
If we consider running as a practice, we can consider “earnest dialogue” (as Abel puts it) as a practice as well. Like Abel, I am interested in discussions where we may not agree, but we can engage in a respectful way with the end goal of improving the culture of running, which of course can improve our lives outside of running. Along the theme (or thread) of unions, is the idea of class consciousness. This is an idea, also tied to consumption, that I have been thinking about for some time—which might strike a chord with some of you—but are we creating a running culture that is perpetuating the idea of classism and consumerism? Are we, as unintentional as it may be, creating a running culture of the have and the have-nots? If you don’t have the cool new (expensive as fuck) brand running clothes or shoes, does that matter in the circles you run in? Are having those things what we are aspiring too, and if so, why? If you can’t afford a VIP package for the race you signed up for, does that make your race day experience not as special? Why are we given the options of so many “add-ons” to enhance our race day experience? When I pose these questions to Abel he offers, “I think this begins with what we were saying earlier about corporations and brands co-opting running. For example, accessibility is [an aspect of running] that brands can co-opt. They pitch the idea that the average person can do this and on top of that they have convinced so many people that racing is a service to be given to them, and they are entitled to, rather than a snippet of what it is to run. The infrastructure of all of this is a service given to people. It's not the meaning of running. It is something that we do as an opportunity for competition. And I partake in it, I like the [competitive] environment, but I think that people approach it with that service mentality of I want all the swag, I want the experience, like I want this huge expo where I have the opportunity to buy a bunch of shit I don't need.” When running shoes cost $200+ the ability to be a part of running culture is a privilege, is it not? Running gear and races offer exclusive opportunities for those who can afford it—which is antithetical to the idea of accessibility, class consciousness, and solidarity. It might be strange to put these words and concepts together, and these ideas definitely need to be a bit more fleshed out, but in talking with Able, I do think there is something to all of this that can make running culture (and our big C culture) more inclusive. “I believe in accessibility. I do think it's really important for people to have [access to running and races]. I just think races are not the epicenter of accessibility for running and a lot of people treat it like it is. I believe all of this is related to people being content with consumption and I don't know how to get them out of it, but it's almost like a junk food of spiritual satisfaction.”
This is the last thread for us to consider. What are the solutions to consumption as the “junk food of spiritual satisfaction” ? Personally, I think awareness is key. Awareness of these systems we have created that has led to the idea that we need more things and then we will be happy, more connected to others, a better runner…whatever it may be. It is an awareness of what does work—cause the answers are out there! Running clubs that take a holistic approach to running culture and community, unions because they are examples of true democracy when done right, class consciousness because my struggles are your struggles because it is all interconnected. Abel shared an idea with me that I found to be the perfect visual if you’re like me and sometimes feel like you’re too small and you’re not doing enough, “Because everything is interconnected, it’s this great weaving of problems that creates a tapestry that sucks, and we all pull at threads. And if everyone’s pulling at threads this thing’s gonna unravel, right? And so I think having that helps you reconcile with the daunting project that is, how do we turn course? But for me it’s enough to pull at threads and it’s enough to tell other people that they have threads to pull, and it’s enough to think what specifically do I do, what power do I have? But it begins with a simple project of relation and getting someone to understand what their thread is.”
A note on the photos:
Images of runners on the track by Miya Hirabayashi, taken at Laney College in Oakland, CA.
Film images by me, taken at the breathtaking Kennedy Meadows and Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada.
I like the idea of these running photos with this conversation because honestly, these ideas are still a little blurry to me. I am working through these ideas and concepts, but they aren’t quite clear. Yet I know there is a connection (because you know, it is ALL connected) and I know as we continue to use running as a practice of awareness, all of this will become clear. And then we can choose what to do with our newfound awareness and clarity.
